With GSP Out, Ronda Rousey Joins UFC’s Top-Ten Pound-For-Pound List

Following Georges St-Pierre’s recent announcement that he has vacated the UFC welterweight championship and briefly retire from the sport of mixed martial arts, the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings have undergone some changes. Most notable of these is the addition of women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at number 10 – adding another historic accolade to her name.

By Christopher Murphy @MurphMMA

If you’ve checked out the UFC’s website lately, or more particularly their rankings page, you would have seen a new addition to the UFC’s list of the top ten fighters pound-for-pound. UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, has joined the list at number 10.

With UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones sitting at the top of the list, the fighters listed at numbers three through ten have all advanced one position following the removal of Georges St-Pierre when the long-standing champion announced his departure from the sport for an undetermined time period. Into the void that was created at the 10th spot, then, entered previously unranked Ronda Rousey.

Traditionally, the pound-for-pound rankings look at fighters’ performances with all things being equal – meaning weight, size, etc. Now, it seems, we must ask an additional question: if the fighters are the same gender, who would win?

Given Rousey’s impressive 7-0 record with 7 first-round armbar victories, it can be argued quite well that the first-ever female UFC champion deserves to be amongst the best fighters pound-for-pound.

Certainly, many will argue that the women’s bantamweight division is not nearly as deep as other divisions inside the UFC; but excluding men’s bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who has not fought in over two years, every UFC champion is ranked in the top ten pound-for-pound. It seems Rousey is simply keeping with the tradition that the UFC champions are among the best in the world – regardless of weight, size, and now gender.

Think she deserves this accolade? Sound off in the poll on page 2 to tell us your thoughts or check the results.

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